High speed printing, such as used when printing newspapers, has typically been accomplished by large offset printers. More currently printing companies have turned to digital printing equipment, such as digital web presses, to print a greater variety of data and short-run jobs such as a single book, direct mail, transactional material and a host of other applications.
Some digital web presses are configurable for use as a simplex printer that prints on one side of the web media, or as a duplex printer that prints on both sides of the web media. For example, FIG. 1 shows a digital web press system, indicated generally at 10, configured for simplex and duplex printing. The web press has two sequential thermal inkjet press sections 20 and 22, two independent dryers 30 and 32, an unwinder device 40, a rewinder device 50, and a turn unit 60. When used as a simplex printer, only one of the press sections is used. When used as a duplex printer, the web press prints first on one side of the web media with the first press section 20 then turns the paper on the turn unit 60 and prints on the second side of the media with the second press section 22. Because the two press sections are positioned sequentially, the web press assembly has a relatively large footprint. Additionally, such digital presses are expensive, and having two presses for duplex printing can double the cost of such equipment.